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Articles by Ellis Dee
Do you pronounce the L in calm, palm, etc...?
August 28, 2026, 10:18am 1 Google says the L is not pronounced. Dictionaries say the L is not pronounced, both in the US and UK. But when linguist Rick Aschmann decided to put together a map of American dialects, he was surprised to find that most Americans do pronounce the L.
New Gaming PC in 2026
June 22, 2026, 8:49pm 1 This market seems insane to buy in, but the market itself scares me. Is it dying? Will building your own gaming pc become a thing of the past with everyone forced into cloud gaming a decade from now? I don’t project prices ever going down. (Anyone else optimistic enough to try and convince me otherwise?*) But I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some other random components suddenly jumped in price 5x like ram and SSDs have.
Does anyone else miss sports highlight reels with narration (like they used to do on SportsCenter)
June 22, 2026, 7:14pm 1 Today a highlight reel from a game will be just that: highlights from the game. You’ll hear what the announcers were saying at the time, which often means that the audio will come in mid-sentence. But there’s no over-arching narration, like there used to be on SportsCenter and similar shows. I rather miss having someone walk me through the highlights, rather than just having them slapped on the screen for me to watch.
Abiotic Factor
Anyone else playing? It’s an exploration base builder / crafting game with a light SCP setting, at least in the early going. Hopefully the weirdness ramps up. Full release July 2025 after a year of early access. The big negative is that people say it looks ugly, so if you can’t get into the aesthetic you’re in good company. I kind of like it. Anything 3D is fine by me, usually. I picked this up during the Spring sale on Steam and got really into it a week or so ago.
Search for post title
February 4, 2026, 10:16pm 1 I can’t seem to find the “Matching in title” checkbox in the advanced search feature. I know it used to be there, but I can’t see it now; little help?
Heated Rivalry.. Won't someone think of the sportsball!?
January 14, 2026, 4:12am 1 (in Games Room as interested in IRL sports side not what happens in the show) So there is lots of buzz around this Heated Rivalry, HBO show online. As I understand it, the premise is two star ice hockey players on opposing teams, fall in love and have lots of steamy gay sex. My thought is won’t someone think of the sportsball!? Surely that’s gonna affect the outcome of games involving those two teams?
Most impressive championships by opponent
January 13, 2026, 7:15am 1 The concept of strength of schedule is that beating a better opponent is more impressive. I started thinking about who has the most impressive championship wins, purely based on how impressive their opponents were. Any sport, any level. Tennis, college basketball, cricket, whatever. Note that this doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual champions. It boils down to luck of the draw of beating an impressive opponent.
Infinite universe?
January 3, 2026, 5:54am 1 Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of comments on reddit that seem to take it as given that the universe is infinite. (Obviously the whole universe, not just the observable universe.) I have been pushing back on this, characterizing that as an interpretation. To my mind it’s like taking the many worlds interpretation as a given; I would push back with the equally valid Copenhagen interpretation.
A-Rod: your thoughts about him… as an athlete? As a man? Or otherwise?
November 23, 2025, 12:14am 1 I’m watching the Alex vs A-Rod 3-part series. Other than being a great ballplayer I really don’t know much about him. And I really didn’t follow his baseball career all that closely. I just finished episode 2. He seems like a genuinely honest and humble man, but I may be drinking the Kool-Aid poured by the show’s writers and producers. Is he? Or am I full of Kool-Aid? What do you think about the guy?
Paypal account limited?
September 29, 2025, 8:37pm 1 I’ve been using this particular paypal account for like a year. It’s the one that pays all my streaming services (automatic recurring payments) and steam games. Just tried to buy Icarus on Steam and paypal rejected it. Here’s the email I got from paypal: Your account features are temporarily blocked There’s a new PayPal account that’s been created using your name. We wanted to make sure your account is owned by you and no one else.
Alien: Earth
August 13, 2025, 4:25am 1 The first two episodes are out. Without using heavy spoilers for them, they really tried hard (and succeeded) to get the look and feel of the original Alien settings in the opening spaceship scenes. The epsodes can be very slow-paced for long stretches and some moments are somewhat surreal. It looks as expensive as it probably is. Definitely trying for high-end “prestige TV” and not just yet another sci-fi action thriller.
Cite for microwaving plastic being bad
April 29, 2025, 12:02am 1 I assumed that microwaving frozen dinners in the little plastic trays they all come in is bad for you, but am having a remarkably difficult time coming up with a credible cite. I don’t eat a lot of frozen dinners – maybe twice a month – but enough to get me curious. Is there a compelling cite that anyone can find? I have tried googling six ways to Sunday to establish that they are bad, but I can’t find anything outside of stuff like YouTube videos.
Packers propose ban on tush push
the Guardian – 25 Feb 25 Green Bay are proposing an end to the tush push play the Philadelphia Eagles have used so successfully at the goalline and in short-yardage situations I don’t like this play solely because in my mind, everyone on the football field should only operate under their own power. You shouldn’t be able to push, pull, lift or throw teammates. I’m pretty sure the rules used to actually state this, but if so I guess they changed it.
Explain to a non-sports fan, what is the verdict on tape review of ref calls?
January 28, 2025, 2:01pm 1 First off, I watch TV sports extremely infrequently, and don’t follow any professional sports. So I don’t really care one way or the other. But I am curious about how sports fans view the instant replay reviews of on-field calls. I was thinking about football, but I’d be happy to hear of any other sports. I watched a grand total of 1 football game this year, a bowl game that Illinois was in.
Who is the worst player to win Super Bowl MVP?
January 13, 2025, 8:36pm 1 By this I don’t mean the worst pick, the most mediocre performance by someone they gave the award to. I mean the player who, other than that amazing Super Bowl, was the most unimpressive player over the course of his career. For your edification, a list of all Super Bowl MVPs: Pro-Football-Reference.com Check out the list of all Super Bowl Most Valuable Player winners and find out who won the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player in which year.
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson fights Friday night!
November 12, 2024, 1:47pm 1 Mike Tyson fights Friday night. Who else will be watching? Mike Tyson is 58. Jake Paul is 27. Their fight is in Arlington TX. Will you watch? What do you expect? I remember Iron Mike Tyson in the mid and late 1980s. He was a beast. He vanquished his opponents in minutes. Sometimes seconds! He struck fear in everybody. He was incredible. But he’s nearing 60 now. I don’t expect him to last. I know nothing about Jake Paul but I know something about aging. Maybe Tyson needs the money.
NFL+ Premium
Does anybody here have NFL+ Premium? I’m trying to figure out the cheapest / best way to watch every game for specific out of market teams. I don’t particularly care about watching games live. I would be perfectly content to wait hours after the game and then watch a commercial-free replay.
NFL 2024-25: Week 8
October 22, 2024, 2:54pm 1 After 7 weeks, there is just one undefeated team. The Chiefs improved to 6-0 by beating the Niners in a game in which Patrick Mahomes had two interceptions and no touchdowns. Meanwhile, the previously unbeaten Vikings fell to the Lions on a last-minute field goal; both teams are now 5-1 in the highly competitive NFC North. The Pack defeated the Texans also on a late field goal in a game that featured seven lead changes.
Outer Wilds - some questions (NO spoilers!)
July 15, 2024, 9:30pm 1 I’m considering player Outer Wilds, the game with the 22 minute repeating cycle. That’s all I know about it other than to avoid all spoilers, which I’m definitely trying to do. I have a couple questions that I don’t think will spoil me. Does the game allow saving anywhere? Is there any permanent log of my progress? If things are resetting, is there some kind of quest or information log to help me?
Linked from another thread
This is a proof of concept “interim” thread for linking to posts without the thread title appearing in the backlink under the post. I envision this being a major pain in the butt to use and probably not an acceptable solution, so if the mods want to close it, no objections. Let’s say you’re posting in a pit thread devoted to pointing out trolling, and want to link to a post you think is trolling. Add a post here linking to that post.
US Tipping, whole bill, or bill minus taxes and fees. Also liquor & beer?
4 You could probably do a poll on this. I tip on the total for sure, but when I was taught how to tip in the 90s it was on the subtotal before taxes. I just never really did it that way because I never needed to pinch pennies like that. Consider it a little bit extra than whatever percentage you were shooting for and call it good.
US Tipping, whole bill, or bill minus taxes and fees. Also liquor & beer? {POLLS ADDED}
May 12, 2024, 3:05pm 1 For restaurants, you don’t tip on fees, right? But now if the fees are rolled into the price of the meal, you will be tipping on that, meaning you’ll actually be tipping more. So I’d imagine anyone who makes tips would love this regulation. @EllisDee, are you sure most people do this? I tip on the bill generally, which includes the taxes. Let’s take this to another thread though, tipping is usually the kind of post that hijacks threads.
Should “The Olympics” Include Fine Arts?
May 2, 2024, 9:38pm 1 For the first fifty years, the modern Olympics included art competitions. Should these be resurrected? Or was this always a middling idea? nytimes.com – 2 May 24 The founder of the modern Games thought they should honor both body and mind. But the tradition died years ago, and the winning artworks are largely forgotten.
7 days to die on sale
April 25, 2024, 12:50am 1 If you have been on the fence about buying this game, you can get it this week on steam for around $6. When it goes to alpha later this year, the price will be $45.
Planet Crafter
April 16, 2024, 2:30am 1 Planet Crafter just came out of Early Access last week, and is on sale for 30% off until the 24th. It’s a first person perspective survival base building game that now supports a controller (yay!) and multiplayer if you’re into that kind of thing. In addition to building your base, you also build terraforming equipment to transform the planet from a barren lifeless husk into a vibrant world teeming with life.
Safety, industry standards, law, and regulation (hijack from Alec Baldwin trial thread)
April 12, 2024, 1:20am 1 As someone who got sucked into the armorer’s trial, and will likely follow Baldwin’s trial, I’ll stick to the issues relevant to this case. Wow. Thanks. But,… you know what, I’m gonna keep on saying it: if yours is the attitude typical of the layperson, there is so much more at stake here than just whether Alec Baldwin is guilty of manslaughter.
Do you carry your cell phone with you at home?
March 26, 2024, 2:33pm 1 Yes, I keep it with me from room to room No, but maybe with a couple exceptions The question is when you are at home, do you always have your cell phone with you even when going from room to room? Or does your phone live mostly in one spot, occasionally taken with you, like maybe to the bathroom? Post inspired by a very long hijack in the Elon Musk pit thread, which started here: From a Governmental POV it hardly matters is there is any tracking in your car.
Dark on Netflix
Just finished watching the first of three seasons. I like it a lot even though it’s dubbed, and I usually hate anything dubbed. I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters. Part of the conceit of the show is keeping you guessing on who some of the characters are, but I had trouble keeping track of the characters we were supposed to know.
Fundie Baby Voice
March 11, 2024, 12:17pm 1 I’ve never heard of this before, but I don’t travel in Fundamentalist Christian Circles, so I guess that’s understandable. I’ve seen several websites this morning explaining the weird voice Katie Britt used for her SOTU rebuttal as a case of “Fundie Baby Voice”, and comparing her normal speaking voice to the way she delivered the response to the SOTU. It all sounds very weird, but believable. Has anyone else heard of this phenomenon? Can they corroborate ir?
Computer/Video Games Most People Don't Remember
March 8, 2024, 3:41am 1 Being an odd duck, I was thinking about 1950s monster movies, like you do, and I suddenly remembered a computer game I played circa 1990 called It Came from the Desert. (Wiki Link) In ICFTD, you play as a geologist who shows up to a small town in California to investigate a meteorite. When you discover the meteorite’s radiation is creating giant ants, it’s a race against time to stop the threat.
2024 NFL Pre-Draft Thread - The Chicago Bears are on the clock (for now)
February 14, 2024, 7:01am 1 The Super Bowl is in the rearview mirror with the Kansas City Chiefs claiming the Lombardi for the second straight year. This means it time for teams to start rebuilding for 2024. The Chicago Bears for the second year in a row have the #1 overall pick (fortunately they didn’t earn it through ineptitude this year).
How do you manage your watch lists?
If you have a bunch of streaming services, how do you deal with finding something to watch? I find I’m spending a minimum 20 minutes before I can settle on a title to watch, every single time. It’s becoming a problem. Part of it is my own fault having so many streaming services: Prime (with Starz), Netflix, Hulu, Max, Paramount+ (with Showtime), Peacock and Tubi. Each time I want to watch a movie I keep going in and out of all the different services to see what I want to watch the most.
Old SDMB thread, riddle never answered
I can’t remember what the puzzle was. Something like “14 F in a G.” Anyone remember what I’m talking about? I just saw a post on Reddit that reminded me of that puzzle: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/s/228FLRVG3A Obviously this will not be the answer to that puzzle, but my memory is saying that it’s pretty close. Anyone able to link to that old SDMB post?
NFL 2023-2024: Divisional Round
The not-so-wild Wildcard weekend is now behind us. Only one of the six games was competitive, as the other five featured double-digit blowouts. Three favorites were on the receiving end of those beatdowns, including both teams from the NFC East. Meanwhile, two teams from the NFC North survived, along with both teams from the much-maligned (by me, anyway) South divisions. Divisional Weekend is considered by some to be the best weekend of the playoffs.
Steam Trolls Players With Bans Wrapped Up Like Christmas Presents
Link Video game companies have gotten very creative when it comes to punishing cheaters, from cutting their parachutes’ strings in Call of Duty to blowing them up in Grand Theft Auto Online. But Valve just set a new benchmark for trolling players: sending them permabans wrapped up like Christmas presents. The video of the loser opening the ‘gift’ made me laugh harder than I have in forever. This is some epic level trolling. Anyways. Just wanted to share the holiday cheer.
Football: Can I order games a la carte?
1 There’s only a few games I’m interested in watching. I really don’t want to buy a package. My devices are firestick and PS4 if that matters. Thanks.
NFL 2023: Week 13 in a Baker's Dozen
As we get ready to enter the home stretch of the 2023 season, the word came down that the Jets have opened a 21-day practice window for Aaron Rodgers. Not sure why, as the Jets are 4-7 and likely need to win their last 6 games to make the playoffs, which they will not do, with or without Rodgers.
Who is the audience for the NFL overseas games?
1 Just what the topic line says. The tv shows a full and fully engaged crowd. Lots of NFL merch being worn. Are there that many loyal NFL fans in Europe? Are they following specific teams? If so what makes certain teams more popular?
YA NFL question: when did "that" become a definite article?
6 The words “the”, “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those” are all closely related, originally being different case-endings of the same word. Vestiges of the evolution to contemporary usages are out there. en.wikipedia.org In Old English, that did not exist, and was only represented by þe. It originated in the north of England sometime before the 1200s and spread around the country in the thirteenth century; it then rapidly became the dominant demonstrative pronoun.
Undervalued athletes
Most athletes have received some discouragement at early points in their careers, but what are the most extreme examples you can think of? To qualify as “most extreme” the discouragement would have had to come at a relatively advanced stage of their career (no Little League flops, for example–everyone has growth spurts) and the athlete would have had a relatively early and sustained period of excellence at the highest level of competition.
NFL 2023: WEEK FIVE will get you ten
Well, things are starting to settle down in the NFL. We knew the Chiefs and Bills would be great, and they’re both 3-1, but neither has looked dominant overall (although the Bills shaming of the Dolphins was impressive). Same in the NFC, where we knew the Eagles, Niners, and Cowboys would all be good … and they are. Very good. We also knew the Panthers, Cardinals, and Raiders wouldn’t be good, and they really aren’t.
What video games are most like a combination of open world and mystery?
1 Let’s start with the details of the type of game I’m looking for. To start with, the platform doesn’t matter. The game should be an open world type game, focused more on solving a mystery rather than on the combat. It doesn’t have to be a complete world. Something like a city surrounded by impenetrable fog or some such is ok, as long as you get to explore all the buildings and houses individually.
NFL 2023: WEEK FOUR leaf clover
Hey, did any of you hear that Taylor Swift was at the Chiefs game last week and is dating Travis Kelce? I had no idea. I’m sure the massive increase in his jersey sales has to do with his resumption of his Hall of Fame career. Although I’ll take having TayTay on my TV screen over those brainless, aspiring reality TV “stars” family of Aidan Hutchinson. YMMV. And, oh, by the way, Miami scored 70 points last Sunday. I bet you didn’t hear about that either.
NFL 2023: WEEK THREE ring circus
Didn’t take long for injuries to become the biggest story in the NFL. Jets trade away a couple second round picks for Aaron Rodgers and he earns about over 9 Million dollars per snap that he actually played for them. Nick Chubb, by most accounts a good guy, a solid teammate, and one of the best running backs in the NFL is out for the year. And game changers like Aaron Jones, Saquon Barkley, and Austin Ekeler are missing time due to injuries also.
Nfl sunday ticket
1 I bought the YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket . Not YouTube TV just the app. Watched week one games last week. Can’t be home tomorrow though. I can’t figure out how to record the Jets Cowboys or any games. I can see how to view them but not how to set it to record?.TIA.
Wearing down the opposing team's best CBs with repeated fly routes
Someone on Reddit had posted this and I wondered why it wasn’t a more common strategy in the NFL (apparently, Richard Sherman had once complained about such a tactic): The strategy was that you target the opposing team’s best cornerback. Whichever WR is being guarded by that CB would be told to just play decoy and run a straight-up deep fly route. The opposing cornerback has no choice but to keep up step for step, of course.
Help identify horror movie from 2000s
Group of young people are in the woods for some reason I can’t remember. They find a rock face with drawings on it that are thousands of years old. Maybe one of them is an archeology student and this is why they’re there. Eventually they meet up with or get attacked by a man and woman seemingly from the time period of the drawing. The survivors seek shelter in a cave, and I think the cave actually turns them into more of those prehistoric people? Maybe? Anyone remember this?
SDMB Fantasy Football DYNASTY League: Year 15
That’s not quite what we’re changing it to. In fact, that’s closer to what we’re changing it from. Last year is the perfect illustrative example: Hamlet traded away two guys for one, which meant he also got his trading partner’s last pick to keep things even. This was required because it was after the deadline when the picks had already been created.
Big Money and US College Football
Of course this has been talked about, with teams wanting to join more lucrative conferences with bigger TV deals. I’m not a huge college football fan, just enjoying occasional casual games, so would appreciate your opinion on a few questions. Is it true that the experience of watching college football on TV has become unpleasant? If so, why is this?
Poll: Justin Fields and the 2023 Bears
With training camp opening tomorrow, it’s a pivotal season for Bears QB Justin Fields. And, while no one expects the Bears to be serious contenders this year, it’s a key season for the team, too, because they could be on the verge of something that’s eluded the team for generations – a true franchise quarterback. Last year, Fields displayed some tantalizing talent, but also some serious deficiencies in his passing game.
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